Classic, liquid, and matrix-assisted dip-pen nanolithography for materials research

Abstract

As a powerful atomic force microscopy-based nanotechnological tool, dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) has provided an ideal direct-write "constructive" lithographic tool that allows materials to be patterned from DPN tips onto a surface with high registration and sub-15 nm resolution. In the past few decades, DPN has been enormously developed for studying the patterning of inorganic, organic, and biological materials onto a variety of substrates. The focus of this review is on the development of three types of DPN: classic, liquid, and matrix-assisted DPN. Such development mainly includes the following aspects: the comparisons of three types of DPN, the effect factors and basic mechanisms of three types of DPN, and the application progress of three types of DPN.

Polymeric lithography editor: Editing lithographic errors with nanoporous polymeric probes

“…Furthermore, agarose can be made ionically conductive hydrogel which will allow metallic deposition or erasing using PLE by modulating the directional molecular transport through electrophoresis ( 64 ). Moreover, more opportunities are also possible wherein PLE can be customized to deposit organic and inorganic materials ( 65 ) and to erase metal oxides and semiconductors ( 13 ). …”

Patterning Electrospun Nanofibers via Agarose Hydrogel Stamps to Spatially Coordinate Cell Orientation in Microfluidic Device

“…[32,33] Instead of direct control over electrospinning, the second one realizes the microstructures through postmodification of electrospun nanofibers using typical microelectromechanical system or inject-printing. [34][35][36][37][38][39] Despite the remarkable flexibility in microstructures induced by lithography, the state-of-the-art technology is limited both by the possible contamination from residual photoresists and by the applicable materials (photocurable materials). Thus, there is still a need for a green, straightforward, and universal strategy to micropattern electrospun nanofibers.In this paper, we propose a facile and robust method for direct patterning of electrospun nanofibers via solvent-loaded agarose hydrogel stamps.…”

Micrometer to 15 nm Printing of Metallic Inks with Fountain Pen Nanolithography

“…Another important technique in the arsenal of the nanolithographer is dip pen nanolithography . This method is based on an atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip that is coated with “dry” or liquid ink solutions by a dipping action . Numerous patterning tasks of this technique have been reported .…”

“…[28] This method is based on an atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip that is coated with "dry" or liquid ink solutions by a dipping action. [29] Numerous patterning tasks of this technique have been reported. [30] However, this technique has certainly not been applied to industry.…”